Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has leveled new charges against Accretive Health, alleging the Chicago-based debt collection agency used illegal billing and collection tactics to get money from patients at two Twin Cities hospital systems.

Swanson's revised complaint, filed Tuesday, June 19, in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, cites a dozen instances where "emergency room patients (were) hustled with bedside collection visits" that led them to believe they had to pay before receiving care.

Among the allegations:

-- In one case, a man lying on a gurney while connected to an IV was told by a collector he had to pay before he saw a doctor.

-- In another instance, a doctor repeatedly chased a collector out of an emergency room.

-- In what Swanson called a "baby prison" case, a collector told a woman who was leaving a hospital with her new baby that she had to pay $800 for the delivery or the newborn wouldn't be discharged, even though insurance would cover the costs.

In addition, the amended complaint alleges the company committed consumer fraud by trying to collect from patients before knowing what services they needed or what the costs would be, often overcharging them.

The suit also asserts the company falsified documents and operated for a period without required licenses.

Accretive denied all the charges.

"The state's proposed amended complaint contains no new causes of action and no additional requested relief.

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The state has merely added selected allegations from its initial compliance review, which contain numerous mischaracterizations and distortions of documents and facts," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"The company plans to move to dismiss the second amended complaint in its entirety."

Swanson first leveled the charges in a report issued in April on the Fairview health system's billing and collection practices. A short time later, Fairview broke ties with Accretive and apologized to patients.

In May, Swanson alleged North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale shared patient information with Accretive for a period last year when the parties didn't have a signed agreement on privacy safeguards.

Ben Wogsland, a spokesman for Swanson, said the revised charges are based on new evidence collected after the initial complaint was filed.

"We're following the evidence where it leads," Wogsland said. In recent months, several more patients complained they were led to believe they wouldn't receive treatment or the care they needed if they didn't make up-front payments to the company's debt collectors.